Snacks- your best travelling partner? Wrong! Travelling and eating is often not a good idea as a traveller’s diarrhoea and food poisoning are not fun to deal with! In fact, it takes away all the fun from your journey. I remember that I decided to shop for groceries a day before I had a trip to Naran. As online grocery shopping in Lahore is very efficient, I ordered all the snacks I wanted for the road online which included sweets, berries and soda. None of it sat well with my stomach!
Yes, one does get excited about travelling, however, you need to be mindful of the food you eat while travelling! There is nothing worse to plan a trip; spend money and energy into it only to have it ruined because of your poor food choices. People who are travelling abroad, especially, enjoy trying new food but unless you are sure your stomach won’t be upset because of it, you should avoid it! The good news is that if you eat simple things you can considerably reduce your chances of getting sick. Here are the food items you should avoid while travelling:
Berries:
Here’s the golden rule regarding fruits you can eat while travelling; only eat those fruits that have the skin you can peel off- like bananas, oranges, etc. Fruits like berries, strawberries and apples should be avoided as these fruits are exposed to the bacteria present in the air as well as the ones present in the water they are washed in. The fruits that have peels, should be washed thoroughly before you peel them so the contaminants on the skin of the fruit don’t find their way to the fruit.
Frozen Foods:
Frozen food poses a lot of health risks. Thawing and dethawing of the food can result in the production of a lot of harmful bacteria. Plus, the ice used for freezing the food can also be contaminated. In countries where the water isn’t filtered, especially, there is a much higher risk of getting sick by eating frozen food! So, stay away from it while travelling if you don’t want your trip to be ruined.
Sauces and Chutneys:
You should be wary of eating sauces and chutneys while travelling as you aren’t aware of the ingredients used to make them or the condition of ingredients if you are aware of them! If you aren’t careful, you could be ingesting products that are made from uncooked herbs, eggs, unclean water, etc. that could cause you to get an upset stomach. I personally would recommend not eating any chutneys and only using sauces that are thoroughly cooked to kill all the bacteria!
Raw Veggies:
If you are travelling abroad, eating raw vegetables is a huge no! Never eat salad when you are abroad as you don’t have any idea about the kind of water used to wash the veggies, the refrigerator conditions, or the conditions of vegetables. Leafy vegetables usually grow at ground level, and a lot of places have high pollution levels, meaning their soil can easily be contaminated too. So, you should eat vegetables that are cooked and have no traces of bacteria left on them!
Fountain Drinks:
Soft drink/pop/soda is something we all love. And you can have them, as long as they come in a sealed bottle or can! What you need to avoid is the fountain drinks that a lot of restaurants offer as it is normally made using tap water or water that’s not properly filtered. When you are travelling, it’s advisable to even brush your teeth with bottled water as tap water might have bacteria that could leave you in intense pain!
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